Driveclub – PS4 Launch Racer – Gets Delayed Till Early 2014

Sadface news regarding the PlayStation 4’s launch line-up. Evolution Studios, well regarded for their popular MotorStorm series on the PlayStation 3, regrettably will be pushing back the release of their upcoming community-focused racer for the PS4, Driveclub, to early 2014. According to Shuhei Yoshida, head of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, the game’s delay will help give the studio time to ensure a more polished final product.

All good and well, sure. Unexpected delays in development process are just the nature of biz, but this news will certainly leave a gloomy hole come the PS4’s November release in both North America and Europe. Sony is now down three first-party exclusives on launch day – Guerilla Game’s Killzone: Shadow Fall, Housemarque’s Resogun, and Sony Japan Studios’ Knack – and worst yet, down one PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection title.

PS Plus subscribers were guaranteed a free digital copy of Driveclub on the PlayStation 4, albeit a version that would have lacked the complete set of tracks and vehicles in the more robust non-PS Plus edition. Not a gimped version by any means either; the PS Plus copy would still feature all racing modes both solo and multiplayer, and more than enough content to please anyone who downloaded the game on launch day.

So what happens now that Driveclub has been kicked down the road to 2014, and off the Instant Game Collect list for the time being? In its place Sony will now be offering Contrast, an Indie puzzle platformer from Compulsion Games that has a rather unique look. It’s a peculiar mix of 1930’s vaudevillian era atmosphere and light-and-shadow gameplay that totally hits Sony’s artist-driven gaming niche it so loves to deliver to its users. Take a look.

Pretty cool, no? I mean, sure, it’s not the AAA package that Driveclub would have been, but it appears to be an interesting game with an interesting motif. Is it a shame that we won’t have Driveclub on day one? Of course. But if it helps Evolution Studios get the game in order, and have the unintentional benefit of giving it a better spotlight that’s out of the way of racing heavy hitters like Gran Turismo 6 on the PS3, coming December 6, then so be it.

Picture it: a potential February tandem of Driveclub and Sucker Punch’s Infamous: Second Son would be a great way to start off 2014 for the PlayStation 4. And you can be sure that PS3Maven will be covering more on that end, as well as the delay for Ubisoft’s Watch_Dogs (yeah, not a good week for the PS4’s launch day), and info about the PlayStation 4 app coming iOS, Android, and the PlayStation Vita.